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Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Since 1907
Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Ezra Craker

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter

Ezra Craker is a senior from Grand Rapids, Michigan studying English, political science and Spanish. He’s been a staff reporter and an arts & entertainment editor for Chimes and is excited to serve as a general assignment reporter for the 2022-2023 school year. With interests in religion, politics and culture, Ezra hopes to pursue journalism, publishing or communications after graduation. Contact him by email () or cell (6162062550).

All content by Ezra Craker

New leadership development program aims to increase retention of under-represented faculty and staff

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
November 13, 2022

This year, Calvin is piloting a leadership development program designed for faculty and staff of color. One major goal of the program is to boost retention of these staff and faculty and encourage them...

Students gathered outside the Prince Conference Center, where the Board of Trustees approved retaining all faculty with confessional difficulties last Friday.

Board of trustees retains faculty who disagree with CRCNA on LGBTQ+ relationships

Calvin’s board of trustees decided last Friday to approve the Professional Status Committee (PSC)'s recommendation to retain all faculty in the "pioneer cohort" — a group of faculty who were the first...

A Calvin tradition graveyard

A Calvin tradition graveyard

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
October 30, 2022

Halloween is a time to reflect on all things dead, buried and ghostly. Front yards are transformed into graveyards. Trick-or-treaters become zombies and ghouls. Cult classics are dug out of the vault for...

As the dollar goes up in value on the foreign exchange market, many national currencies have gone down, a trend that doesn't seem to be easing up any time soon.

Strong U.S. dollar increases costs for international students

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
October 23, 2022

Junior economics major Misgana Dinberu hopes to spend the upcoming spring semester in Washington, DC getting valuable internship experience. As an international student from Ethiopia, however, she's unsure...

Calvin students should ride the bus

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
October 16, 2022

Every once in a while, I'll tell someone I took the city bus to get to a given event. Depending on who I'm talking to, this might be followed up with a look of surprise and a "You could have told me you...

Calvin admissions has revamped visit days for prospective students considerably, tailoring them to individualized interests and needs.

Calvin admissions has revamped visit days for prospective students considerably, tailoring them to individualized interests and needs.

Senior Ella Peterman has noticed a significant difference in her students before and after the pandemic.

The pandemic changed education. Now education students are learning to adapt

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
September 26, 2022

When senior special education major Ella Peterman student-aided with kindergarteners before the pandemic, her students were emergent readers and fairly fluent in social interactions.  Now, as a student...

Calvin’s Career center has seen an uptick in remote work opportunities for students.

Remote work-heavy job market comes with benefits and drawbacks for students and alumni

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
September 19, 2022

It’s a moment many can relate to: rolling out of bed and immediately hopping onto an online meeting or class.  "If I have my glasses on in the morning that means I just woke up like a minute before...

Bleachers' lead singer Jack Antonoff performed with the band fun. at Calvin in 2012. Calvin asked fun. not to bring along LGBTQ+ advocacy organization The Ally Coalition — a group that will be present with Bleachers on Sept. 17, according to Antonoff's Twitter.

Bleachers is coming to Calvin for SAO’s first arena concert since 2014

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
September 11, 2022

Earlier this year, the indie pop band Bleachers appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and performed sold out shows at iconic venues like Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This Saturday, they'll be...

Many Calvin students graduate with and plan their future according to student debt. Biden's relief plan could change that for many.

Debt relief alters future plans for students and alumni

Ezra Craker, General Assignment Reporter
September 4, 2022

Being an undergraduate college student with loan payments looming in the future, it can be hard to reckon with the tough financial reality they promise.  "It's sometimes easy to forget that it's real,"...

Artist Collaborative students will now have cohort experiences more spread throughout their time in the program.

Artist Collaborative cohort program gets an update

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
November 8, 2021

Amid Calvin’s first wave of major cuts in 2013, arts faculty formed an unofficial council on their own time to discuss the future of the arts at the university.  “Part of our thinking was [that]...

Behind every SAO concert is a small office pulling the strings necessary to bring artists to campus, including singer-songwriter Matt Costa (pictured above).

The precarious world of booking SAO concerts

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
October 25, 2021

In 2018, Phoebe Bridgers performed for the Student Activities Office concert series. Just three years later, she’s a globally touring artist with four Grammy nominations. As a small Christian college...

"Luminous" documentary, directed by professor Sam Smartt and about professor Larry Molnar, finally makes it to the Calvin community after seven years of production.

‘Luminous’ tells the story of a Calvin astronomer’s risky prediction

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
October 17, 2021

In the fall of 2014, then-Calvin physics professor Matthew Walhout pitched an idea to a new film professor, Sam Smartt: a documentary about the first astronomer to publicly predict an explosion of a star...

Tipping servers generously should be a Christian practice

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
October 12, 2021

As a server at a local restaurant, the best part of every shift is counting up the tips. Sometimes, I’m just happy to be making money. Other times, I’m stunned by the generosity of customers. But most...

After several COVID-related setbacks, CTC performed a Steampunk version of Shakespeare.

Waking up from a nightmare, Calvin Theater Company finally performs “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
October 3, 2021

Rehearsals have looked a little different for the Calvin Theater Company this fall. As they practiced for their steampunk version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on the chapel patio, the actors and...

Tomberlin kicked off the first in SAO's concert series.

Concerts are back on campus. Proof of vaccination required

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
September 18, 2021

Concert-goers gathered in the Covenant Fine Arts Center lobby last Wednesday, just as they have since the Student Activities Office was founded over 25 years ago. But this time, they had to produce both...

"Beauty by Design" is on display at the Center Art Gallery.

New art installations offer break from semester-start stress

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
September 13, 2021

School is back in session. With the flurry — or maybe more accurately, the avalanche — of new schedules, assignments and commitments, it can be easy to forget to look around and appreciate one’s...

Calvin's facilities department entered the school year with noticeable understaffing.

[Photo] Understaffed and overworked: Grieving a gutted department, facilities grapples with transition

Isaiah TenHuisen, Staff Reporter
September 12, 2021

Calvin's facilities department entered the school year with noticeable understaffing.

Lorde's "Solar Power" is a refreshing album that doesn't always cohere.

On “Solar Power,” Lorde just wants to relax

Ezra Craker, A&E Editor
September 7, 2021

Things have been apocalyptic lately. The plague rages on. The planet is on fire. It feels like the Lord should be returning any day now. In the meantime, another Lorde has returned. “Lead the boys...

Derek Vos and Sarah Catlin are a now-graduated Calvin couple who met during their freshman year of college in December 2016.

A “Calvin walk” through dating history

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
April 29, 2021

Calvin’s dating culture has given the world many happy couples--and many, many, many Chimes op-eds. Throughout the years, the students of Calvin have partnered up, hooked up and broken up. They’ve...

The skyline of Chicago during a student's recent trip.

In lieu of spring break, students make a break for it

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
April 14, 2021

This semester, it was hard for students to get away from campus. Calvin cancelled spring break to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak and scattered advising days throughout the semester rather than joining them...

Students, staff and faculty can sign up for vaccine with Calvin, Spectrum Health

Students, staff and faculty can sign up for vaccine with Calvin, Spectrum Health

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
April 1, 2021

COVID-19 vaccine appointments are easier to book than ever. Spectrum Health expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older on Tuesday, a week earlier than the expected April 5 date. Students, faculty,...

Room for All supporters serve communion.

LGBTQ inclusion disagreements threaten Reformed Church in America split

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
March 25, 2021

After years of debate, disagreements about LGBTQ inclusion are threatening to split the Reformed Church in America. The General Synod, the RCA’s governing body, will determine the denomination’s decision...

What are the ingredients of a good dorm event?: Schultze-Eldersveld weighs in

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
March 25, 2021

Calvin has no fraternities, but the Schultze-Eldersveld dorm president Jackson Doezema said the dorm has “frat energy.”  On Halloween last fall, the residents of 1st Eldersveld stormed the rest...

Calvin grad continues to make music and is eager to perform live shows.

Calvin alum makes music vividly rooted in time and place

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
March 11, 2021

Calvin alumnus James Joshua Li is pretty sure the 2013-2014 residents of Schultze-Eldersveld thought their basement was haunted. During his sophomore year, people would hear mysterious sounds and voices...

The University has decided to cut several majors and minors, including Art History, Theatre, and Japanese.

Zombie majors: students struggle to finish their degrees as the university cuts programs

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
March 3, 2021

Junior biochemistry major Katherine Koning fondly remembers using paint as a prop in another student’s choreographed piece for the dance minor showcase. As a freshman dance minor, Koning had four years...

Johnny's seating area closed as a result of rise in cases.

Morale dips during increased restriction, students hopeful as cases fall

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
February 24, 2021

“Suckitude.” That’s how English professor Jennifer Holberg described the disappointments of the pandemic—not being able to see students’ faces, not being able to have events with the English...

Students wore all black to stand in solidarity with Breonna Taylor’s family during an outdoor chapel service in September.

Newly formed group of students of color advises administration on racial justice

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
February 21, 2021

Last summer, Black Lives Matter activists protested the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others at the hands of police. Members of the Calvin community urged the school’s administration to...

GameStop stock rose abruptly in the end of January, but has sunk again since.

Students ride GameStop roller coaster

Ezra Craker, Staff Reporter
February 11, 2021

When Reddit-fueled retail investment in GameStop took the stock market for a wild ride in January, a few Calvin students joined in the fun.  “It was like FOMO,” said Darian Seale, senior civil...

Several TikTok users are concerned the COVID-19 vaccine will include a microchip.

Popular TikToks promote unfounded claim that COVID-19 vaccine could be the mark of the beast

Ezra Craker, Guest Writer
December 3, 2020

Recent COVID-19 vaccine developments have evoked joy, relief and for some, including one popular TikTok user, apocalyptic fear. In October, Taylor Rousseau posted a video depicting a near future where...

Calvin professor of environmental studies, James Skillen publishes book.

Professor releases book exploring public land, conservative politics

Ezra Craker, Guest Writer
November 13, 2020

When militias squared up against the federal government in 2014 to defend a rancher whose cattle were being rounded up for grazing on public land, a British reporter interviewed Calvin’s very own James...

COVID-19 cases have been rising in Kent County.

Amidst rising infection rates, Safe Return Team introduces COVID-19 surveillance testing

Ezra Craker, Guest Writer
October 23, 2020

More students can now expect to participate in proactive surveillance testing, in addition to monitoring their symptoms through the Campus Clear app.  According to the CDC website, surveillance testing,...

Engineering students showcase recorders designed with a self-built 3D printer

3D printing allows for inventive expression

Ezra Craker, Guest Writer
October 8, 2020

As of late, the tinny sounds of recorders have been vibrating the walls, vents, and floorboards of the Knollcrest East apartments. For those wondering who is practicing an instrument used in meme versions...

The new streaming service features "bite-size" episodes that are each 10 minutes or less.

I tried Quibi so you don’t have to

Ezra Craker, Guest Writer
April 20, 2020

Elbowing its way into a crowded streaming landscape, Quibi (short for “quick bite”) believes we want more. The new platform, which debuted this month, is defined by its limitations. All content runs...

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